Growing Olive in Australia: The Complete Guide

Olive is an easy vine fruit to grow, needing full sun with low once established, drought-tolerant watering.

We get asked about olive often enough that it's worth setting out the full picture here, beyond what fits on our printable card.

It's worth being clear about why olive is worth the bed space before getting into how to grow it. At a glance, it's rated easy, with a sun of full sun; water of low once established, drought-tolerant; soil ph of 6.0–8.0 — details that matter more once you're actually planning around them than they do on a first read. The rest of this article works through exactly what each of those means day to day, in more depth than a single printable card has room for, and with the reasoning behind each recommendation rather than just the recommendation itself.

Climate and Timing Considerations

Australia's climate zones change growing timing more than most general advice accounts for. Cool temperate zones (Tasmania, the Victorian highlands, southern NSW) have recurring frost risk well into what other zones call spring, which compresses the safe planting window for frost-tender plantings. Warm temperate zones (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth) sit closest to what general advice assumes by default. Subtropical zones (Brisbane, northern NSW) rarely see frost at all, and the growing calendar shifts earlier and later as a result. Our site-wide zone setting adjusts the advisory note shown on the Planting Calendar for exactly this reason — worth setting once if you haven't already. The same zone setting also feeds the Harvest Calendar, so both ends of the growing cycle reflect wherever you actually garden, rather than a generic Australia-wide average.

• Cool Temperate (TAS, VIC highlands, southern NSW, ACT): shorter frost-free window — lean toward the later end of any spring planting window shown on the guide above.
• Warm Temperate (Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, coastal NSW/WA): closest match to the general timing shown above; frost is occasional but rarely severe.
• Subtropical (Brisbane, northern NSW, coastal QLD): minimal frost risk — often plantable a few weeks earlier and later than the general window shown above.

Built for dry conditions

Olives are among the most drought-tolerant fruiting trees suited to Australian conditions — once established, they need remarkably little supplementary water.

Planting Olive

Method. Plant from a potted tree.

Soil. Free-draining, tolerates poor and alkaline soils well.

Timing. Plant in spring or autumn.

These few details do most of the actual work, more than any single trick or shortcut would.

Day-to-Day Care

A few things matter most here:

• Water regularly for the first 1–2 years, then reduce significantly.
• Prune in late winter/early spring to maintain an open shape.
• Feed lightly once a year, if at all — olives cope well in lean soil.
• Fruit must always be cured before eating — never eaten fresh off the tree.

These aren't equally important, but all of them are worth building into your routine — water regularly for the first 1–2 years, then reduce significantly. Fruit must always be cured before eating — never eaten fresh off the tree. Treat this list as a routine to build rather than a one-off checklist, and it becomes second nature within a season or two.

Common Problems

The key things to get right:

• Olive lace bug — stippled, discoloured leaves; generally manageable, encourage predators.
• Fruit fly — net or manage as fruit develops.
• Peacock spot — leaf spotting in humid climates; improve airflow.
• Poor fruiting in overly rich soil or with too much water — olives generally prefer lean, dry conditions.

None of these are complicated on their own, but skipping one is a common source of trouble — olive lace bug — stippled, discoloured leaves; generally manageable, encourage predators. Poor fruiting in overly rich soil or with too much water — olives generally prefer lean, dry conditions. Treat this list as a routine to build rather than a one-off checklist, and it becomes second nature within a season or two.

When and How to Harvest

Signs. Green olives: full size, still green. Black olives: fully coloured and slightly soft.

Method. Hand-pick or lay nets and shake branches gently.

Curing. Requires curing in brine or lye before eating — never eaten straight off the tree.

Storage. Cured olives keep for months in brine; oil pressing is a separate process.

None of these are difficult individually — the value is in getting all of them right at once.

Preserving. See Dehydrating for drying grapes and similar fruit, or Canning & Bottling for jams and preserves.

Companions & rotation

Our printable card above lists specific plants that pair well nearby and others best avoided, along with a rotation note: Rosemary, Lavender, Overly rich, wet soil. Getting this right matters more over multiple seasons than it does in any single one — the benefits and the risks of poor rotation both compound over time rather than showing up immediately.

Related Guides

If olive suits your garden, these related guides in the same category are worth a look too:

• Feijoa
• Fig
• Grape
• Kiwifruit

That's the full picture behind olive. The printable A4 version of this guide — with the quick-reference gauges and diagram in one page — is available on the main guide page below. If you're planning a whole bed rather than a single plant, our Companion Planting Checker is worth using alongside this guide. As with every guide on this site, this is general information based on our own research and experience, not professional advice — your specific soil, climate, and circumstances will always vary from ours to some degree.

Beyond the printable card, our Planting Calendar and Harvest Calendar tools will show a zone-adjusted note for olive specifically, and the Companion Planting Checker covers the specific pairings mentioned above in more detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

→ View the printable A4 guide for olive